Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Olivia Miller has been named the new executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art after a national search.

Olivia joins us from Tucson, where she serves as director of the University of Arizona Museum of Art. She brings a wealth of experience to Oregon, having served in leadership positions at the Arizona museum since 2014, including curator of exhibitions and curator of education.

As museum director, she managed a $1.2 million budget and a staff of 11, two buildings and a permanent collection of more than 7,000 works. She cultivated relationships with private collectors and foundations to enhance the museum’s permanent collection, securing donations, promised gifts, and funds to support collection care. She helped secure $5 million in university funding to replace the museum’s outdated HVAC system.  

She curated more than 35 exhibitions in Arizona and oversaw the return and restoration of a stolen painting by Willem de Kooning called “Woman-Ochre” — a remarkable story recounted here.  

Olivia also has a history of working with Jordan Schnitzer and his family foundation. The UA museum hosted two exhibitions featuring art from the collections of the foundation: one showed the work of Hank Willis Thomas, a conceptual artist and activist, and the other was called “The Art of Food,” which garnered the highest attendance of any exhibition at the museum in the past decade.  
 
And while she has roots in Arizona – she received her bachelor’s degree at UA – Olivia is also a Duck. She earned her master’s degree in Art History here and  worked as a collections intern at the JSMA. Miller will succeed John Weber, who has served as executive director of the museum since 2019 and is retiring at the end of September. 

She will begin her duties on September 15.  We would like to thank members of the search committee, including search chair Laura Vandenburgh, director of the School of Art + Design, for their diligent and thoughtful efforts.  

Please join us in welcoming Olivia to her new role at the University of Oregon.   

Sincerely,  

Christopher P. Long 
Provost and Senior Vice President  

Kate Morris 
Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs